The grandmother of a 22-year-old British man who went missing in Malaga six-months-ago fears he may have been killed in a drug deal that went wrong.
Liam Poole, of Burgess Hill, in West Sussex, disappeared with his 46-year-old father Daniel on April 1.
Both had left their luggage and passports at their hotel on the Costa del Sol, suggesting it was not a planned disappearance. The pair had also hired a grey Peugeot 308 car with the registration number 0254KTM when they arrived in Spain, which has not been returned to the car hire firm.
Liam’s grandmother, Kathy Catney, went to Spain with the BBC’s Inside Out programme and visited the golf resort where the two men stayed.
She told the programme that her grandson did not play golf and his numerous visits to the region made her suspicious.
She said the older Mr Poole had served time in prison in connection to drugs and was releated through his mother to the notorious Richardson crime family from south London, a gang which was alleged to have tortured victims with bolt cutters and pliers during the 1960s. Her grandson has no criminal record.
The Pooles went “to Spain to meet up with somebody, to do some sort of deal, whether that would be property, drugs, I really didn’t know,” she said.
After the pair disappeared, Catney said the family were contacted via a phone message from Morocco asking for a ransom of £100,000.
The money was raised in hours, but there was no follow-up phone call or demand.
While in Estepona, Catney visited bars and asked them to display posters featuring photos of the missing men.
She was rebuffed by one business.
“The barman, when I showed him the poster, he said he’d seen them and that they were both ‘wrong ‘uns’, and that just upset me,” she said.
Catney said she wants to know the fate of her eldest grandson and asked anyone with information to contact the authorities.
“I do think Liam’s died – I think he’s been killed.
“I hope he’s not at the bottom of the sea … I hope. People say he is but I want the chance of someone giving me him back to me.
“I think Liam’s dad got into some bother and Liam got caught it the crossfire.”
British and Spanish police continue to investigate the disappearance of the two men.
Members of the public can report information online or by calling 101 quoting Operation Pheasant.